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Vainio wins 50th GP3 race

Koiranen GP finish one-two in Barcelona Race 2

What a debut: Koiranen GP, newcomers to GP3 Series this season, certainly made an impression with a superb one-two with Aaro Vainio and rookie Kevin Korjus in their maiden race weekend. Jenzer Motorsport’s Patric Niederhauser joined the pair on the podium.

Vainio made a superb start from fourth on the grid to be leading at the first corner in front of his teammate Korjus who had started from reverse pole. Tio Ellinas, Race 1 winner, also made an impressive getaway from P8 up to fifth but best start of the day went to his fellow Marussia Manor Racing driver Dino Zamparelli, who started from last on the grid and was P13 by the end of lap one.

The safety car was briefly deployed after lap one following an incident which saw Melville McKee out of the race for Bamboo Engineering. Robert Visoiu (MW Arden) and Emanuele Zonzini (Trident) also had an excursion through the gravel.

MW Arden’s Daniil Kvyat had a premature end to his race after contact was made with Ryan Cullen, when the Brit attempted a pass on the inside. Vainio and Korjus set an impressive pace to build up a large advantage of five seconds at the front of the field with a five way fight for P3 with Nick Yelloly leading the chasing pack.

Trident’s David Fumanelli was keen to pass the Brit’ for the rostrum position and the Italian tagged the back of the Carlin machine which sent Yelloly into a spin at turn 14, which dropped him down the race order. Ellinas seized the opportunity and shot past the dicing duo to snatch P3 whilst Fumanelli continued thus with damage to the nose of his car.

Sainz Jr (MW Arden) had started from outside of the top ten began plucking his way through the order and was hot on the heels of ART Grand Prix’s Jack Harvey, finding a way through for P7. The Koiranen GP duo began to manage a more controlled pace at the front, with a ten second lead back to P3. Ellinas clearly began suffering with tyre degradation so Niederhauser harassed the Cypriot, the pair having a fantastic battle with very clean and respectful moves, with the Swiss snatching the third place away from his rival.

At the chequered flag, Vainio crossed the line with a one second advantage over his Estonian teammate to secure his second victory in GP3 and conclude a very positive start for the newcomers. Korjus also pocketed a further two points for posting the fastest lap. Niederhauser finished P3, with all eyes on the tussle for P4. Ellinas edged ahead of Fumanelli, Conor Daly (ART Grand Prix), Sainz Jr and Harvey for the final points scoring places.

Ellinas heads the Driver’s Standings on 39 points, with Niederhauser on 28 and Vainio on 15.

Round 2 of the Series heads to Valencia on 15-16 June with a test session prior to this at Budapest 05-06 June.

Barcelona – Race 2

Driver

Team

1.

Aaro Vainio

Koiranen GP

2.

Kevin Korjus

Koiranen GP

3.

Patric Niederhauser

Jenzer Motorsport

4.

Tio Ellinas

Marussia Manor Racing

5.

David Fumanelli

Trident

6.

Conor Daly

ART Grand Prix

7.

Carlos Sainz Jr

MW Arden

8.

Jack Harvey

ART Grand Prix

9.

Lewis Williamson

Bamboo Engineering

10.

Giovanni Venturini

Trident

11.

Alex Fontana

Jenzer Motorsport

12.

Eric Lichtenstein

Carlin

13.

Adderly Fong

Status Grand Prix

14.

Luis Sa Silva

Carlin

15.

Samin Gomez

Jenzer Motorsport

16.

Facu Regalia

ART Grand Prix

17.

Dino Zamparelli

Marussia Manor Racing

18.

Patrick Kujala

Koiranen GP

19.

Robert Visoiu

MW Arden

20.

Carmen Jorda

Bamboo Engineering

Not Classified

Josh Webster

Status Grand Prix

Emanuele Zonzini

Trident

Nick Yelloly

Carlin

Jimmy Eriksson

Status Grand Prix

Ryan Cullen

Marussia Manor Racing

Daniil Kvyat

MW Arden

Melville McKee

Bamboo Engineering

Fastest Lap : Kevin Korjus – Koiranen GP : 1 :37.669 on lap 4

source: GP3 Series

ELLINAS TOPS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAVING SPAIN

Marussia Manor Racing GP3 – Spain – Race 2

GP3 Series, Round 2, Circuit de Catalunya, Spain

ELLINAS P4 1:38.808

ZAMPARELLI P17 1:38.185

CULLEN RET 1:39.917

Cypriot driver Tio Ellinas tops the GP3 championship table leaving Barcelona after following up a fine win in Saturday’s feature race with a strong fourth place in Sunday’s sprint event.

With the top eight finishers in Saturday’s race reversed on the grid, Ellinas made a good start to emerge from the tight Turns 1/2 in fifth place. That became third with five of the 17 laps remaining, when Carlin’s Nick Yelloly and Trident’s David Fumanelli made light contact. With two laps to go, however, Ellinas, struggling with his tyres, had to cede a place to Saturday runner-up Patric Niederhauser’s Jenzer Motorsport car. With both pole and fastest lap from Saturday’s race, however, the man from Larnaca left Spain with an 11-point championship lead.

Dino Zamparelli started from the back with a 10-place grid penalty for causing a collision in the main feature race. Undeterred, he made a stunning start and made up 13 places on the opening lap! From there he spent most of his race at the back of a six-car train before locking up a tyre in the closing stages and falling to 17th at the flag.

Ryan Cullen also made strong early progress but ended his debut GP3 meeting after a collision with MW Arden’s Daniil Kvyat in Turn 4, which broke the Marussia Manor Racing car’s left front suspension after six laps.

Tio Ellinas

“I made a good start to get up to fifth on the first lap and then concentrated on trying not to work the tyres too hard. They did go away again towards the end of the race and after I’d got up to third there was nothing more I could do to defend from Niederhauser. We’ll have to look at the set-up to see if there’s anything we can do to improve that. But I’m happy, it’s been a really positive start.”

Dino Zamparelli

“I think that’s the best start and first lap I’ve ever had! It wasn’t so much the launch but also getting through the traffic. Making up 13 places in one lap was very enjoyable! I was then in a long train of cars and it was hard to make more progress. I locked up a wheel trying a bit too hard and the tyres went off after that, so I finished an eventual 17th. So no points but the positive side is that we’re quick.”

Ryan Cullen

“I made a good start and was going well before I had the contact with Kvyat. He came down the inside of me in Turn 3 and then ran out wide, so I went back down the inside into Turn 4. He came back across, almost squaring off the corner and I don’t think it was my fault. The contact broke the suspension and that was my race over.”

Pete Sliwinski, Team Manager, Marussia Manor Racing GP3

“We can’t be disappointed to be leaving with a driver leading the championship and the team in second place, but we weren’t quite quick enough today and we’ll be looking at why. But overall it’s been a tremendously positive start with Tio driving well all weekend, Dino having an incredible first lap today and Ryan picking up experience.”